Writing About Film

Writing about film can be broken down into five categories, the most basic being Formal Analysis. Formal Analysis is basically looking at the finished product of a film. The shots, cuts, and lighting are all parts of the finished product. The film is analysed based on what is on screen, no influences are taken into consideration. Film History focuses on the influence that a time period has on a film. Important events or ideas heavily influence a film. War films like Apocalypse Now are of course based on war, but the perspectives and ideas can vary. The thoughts of soldiers on either side of a war can be shown and create different feeling to the viewers. Other films like Taxi Driver are also influenced by a time period. In this case the anti-hero of films sticks out and is embraced by an audience. Ideological Papers have to with the message behind a film like an idea or political standing. Characters can be highlighted in a way that makes an audience feel something that can   be reflected on in real life. This effect does not have to be in the form of a documentary either. Cultural Studies and Ideological Papers are similar because of their standing in real issues. Films change drastically depending on where they are made and who made them. A movie that has no real problems in the United States can be seen as offensive to another country. This is attributed to the values of a country. Films may be completely banned when they first come out but then end up fine years later. Lastly a combination of the previous forms of writing is the Discussion of the Auteur. This is the analysis of a film crew's technique and choice in making a film. The entire crew is influenced by the everything around. Politics, recent events, change in technology, their personal lives, their age and experience and many more things. Every part of a film is the responsibility of one or many individuals. A director may have an entire film written on paper but costume, lighting, sound effects and editing are all the collaboration of many people. These are like small details that tend to be ignored.

Annotating a film is effectively breaking down a films components. Ideas can really be focused on and an effective paper can be written this way. Annotating is particularly useful when a film can only be seen once. A particular shot sequence can be broken down and compared with the rest of a film to find patterns or recurring choices. Annotating a films is effectively making a film analysis more manageable.

"Thinking beyond the frame" basically means to look at the influences around the time period around the film. Certain events, issues, or perspectives are all part of this idea. The production team all had some influence in why they cut a scene a certain way, had a certain shot, or had a certain costume. Different film writing styles focus on this idea in order to find a meaning in a film. Film making is known as an invisible art because details aren't really looked at by an audience. A costume may simply look a certain way because it is appealing to the eye. The audience will ignore the work that went into creating the costume and remain captivated. "Thinking beyond the frame" is looking at all the details that went into making a film.